Carnegie Mellon Celebrates School of Music's Centennial Anniversary with Concerts in Pittsburgh and New York City

PITTSBURGH, March 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnegie Mellon University's School of Music will celebrate 100 years of putting students in the nation's leading orchestras and opera houses, at the Grammys and on Broadway at 8 p.m., Saturday, March 31 at Pittsburgh's Benedum Center for the Performing Arts and at 7 p.m., Monday, April 2 at New York's Carnegie Hall.

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Planners say the extraordinary concert events showcase only a few of the illustrious School of Music alumni, including tenors Jeffrey Behrens and Liam Bonner singing the Belcore/Nemorino duet from Donizetti's "The Elixir of Love."

Joining Behrens and Bonner will be the School of Music's world-class students in the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic, Repertory Chorus and Concert Choir. Faculty members Ronald Zollman and Robert Page will conduct. Others slated for the all-star performances include:

• Graham Fenton (BFA'05) singing the hit song "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" from the Broadway show "Jersey Boys."
• New York Philharmonic's Harold Wall (BFA'72), San Antonio Opera's principal horn Peter Rubins (BFA'86), CMU faculty member William Caballero (principal horn, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra), and Brice Andrus (principal horn, Atlanta Symphony) will perform Schumann's "Konzertstück for Four Horns." Chicago Symphony's principal horn Dale Clevenger (BFA'62) will conduct. Clevenger received a Carnegie Mellon Alumni Association Distinguished Achievement Award in 2011.
• Highly acclaimed sopranos Lisa Vroman (MFA'81) and Christiane Noll (BFA'90) also will be performing in the concerts. Vroman starred in the Broadway production of "The Phantom of the Opera" as Christine Daae — she garnered Theatre Critic's awards for the role in a record-breaking run in San Francisco, and did a return engagement at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Noll was nominated for a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for her portrayal of Mother in the Kennedy Center Revival of "Ragtime."
• Violinist Emma Steele (A'12), the Sibelius International Violin Competition finalist and student of Cyrus Forough, also will play.
• Manu Narayan (BFA'96), screen actor/vocalist, will be the master of ceremonies for both concerts.

The School of Music has a special centennial partnership with schools in Pittsburgh and New York to distribute tickets to the performances. CMU's School of Music is recognized for its K-12 teaching programs and producing faculty members at pre-eminent colleges and universities. The partnership aims to help expose local public school students to classical and contemporary music.

For more information about the Centennial or to purchase tickets for performances visit: http://music.cmu.edu/centennial/.

About Carnegie Mellon University's School of Music: Founded in 1912, Carnegie Mellon's School of Music (http://music.cmu.edu.) educates outstanding, intellectually gifted musicians through excellence in performance, creativity, scholarship and pedagogy. The School of Music offers undergraduate degrees in instrumental and vocal performance, composition and keyboard performance. Graduate degrees are offered in performance, composition, conducting and music education. The school also offers a variety of highly acclaimed non-degree programs, such as the Performance Residency Program, the Artist Diploma Program, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Piano Pedagogy, Advanced Flute Studies, Orff Schulwerk and Music Education programs. Since its founding, the School of Music has graduated more than 3,200 students, who can be found performing, composing, conducting, teaching and contributing to the music field worldwide. Today, many alumni regularly appear in symphony orchestras, on Broadway, and in opera houses around the world. Additionally, the School of Music presents more than 250 events annually, many of which are free and open to the public.

About Carnegie Mellon University: Carnegie Mellon (http://www.cmu.edu) is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 11,000 students in the university's seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon's main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California's Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia, Europe, and Mexico. The university is in the midst of "Inspire Innovation: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University," which aims to build its endowment, support faculty, students and innovative research, and enhance the physical campus with equipment and facility improvements.

SOURCE Carnegie Mellon University